J. McGrath Cohoon
Maureen S. Biggers
National Center for Women & IT
&
University of Virginia
College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Women are especially at risk
Some of
your
students will
leave no
matter what
you do
Some of your
students will
allow you to
influence their
decisions to
stay or leave
Some of
your
students will
stay no
matter what
you do
Five sets of retention
recommendations
•
Based on research
o Institutional retention
o Retention in computing majors
Assess your department’s retention
practices
A few words of advice about change
Routinely facilitate academic success
Promote community
Maintain interest
through curriculum
Support students
Monitor outcomes
Test early and often
Put Performance in
Context
A llllllllll
B llllllllllllllllllllll
C lllllllllllllll
D lll
F ll
A=75 – 100
B = 60 – 74
Skill building through
Understand
research
Confident in
research
skills
REU
Master
discipline
Aware of
career paths
Find some truth in whatever students say
Inhibit show-offs
Promote asking questions
Critical to student experience
•
•
•
•
Feedback & context
Practice builds skill
Participation
Encourage persistence
Peer led team learning
Pair programming
www.umkc.edu/cad/si
Community & academic achievement
•Greater
sense of academic community
•Quality interaction with profs and peers
•Higher test scores
•Higher levels of
student involvement
•Higher levels of
enthusiasm
•Pursuit of topics to
more advanced levels
Avoid isolating women and minorities
Facilitate student interaction
•
•
•
•
Study groups
ACM
Women’s groups
Peer mentoring
Use inclusive language
Spotlight women for their
accomplishments,
not their gender
CS and …
Use meaningful examples
Describe how skills can be applied
•
Especially in ways that help people
Programming is a tool
Survey course
Reach out to
women
The first 3 - 6 weeks on your
campus can make or break for
program completion
therefore . . .
FRONTLOAD
Early Warning System
Call those who miss 2-3
consecutive classes
Below “C” on first test
Failure to register
•Describe
your
personal history
•
highlight shared
elements
•Explain
how they
could achieve what
you achieved
Measure goal attainment
Report results
Revise
Continue/
Discontinue
Minute Paper
•
What is the most
important thing
you’ve learned in
class today?
•
What is the main,
unanswered
question you
have?
Punctuation Lectures
Stop and reflect on what students were doing
Productive Study Time Logs
Record time spent studying for class
• When
• How productively
http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/assess.htm
Student Experience of
the Major
Track enrollment
Track course outcomes
Report results
Conducive
Systems Conditions
View
Motivation
Knowledge
Gender
Diversity in
Computing
Dissatisfaction
Self-Efficacy
Resources
Rewards
Participation
Leadership
Change
agents
Attracting, Retaining, & Advancing Women in Undergraduate Computing
Awards
#0533580
#0533565
Routinely facilitate academic success
Promote community
Maintain interest
through curriculum
Support students
Monitor outcomes
Overall Advice
Start right
Classroom
experience is critical